The use of devices to insert plants or seeds into the ground has been practiced since the beginning of agriculture. Devices used to insert seeds and plants in the ground range from devices as simple a stick or a dibble for making an impression in the soil to more complex devices for inserting and containing seeds and seedlings as described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,880,136, 1,936,988, 1,959,139, 3,914,900, 3,962,822 and 4,336,669. The devices described in these patents are designed to degrade, decompose or fall apart after burial to allow future growth and expansion of the seed, seedling or plant contained within the devices. The devices are not designed to penetrate both sides of a bag of compost or other growing medium nor do the devices suggest methods of growing plants in bags of growing medium. Further, these devices do not facilitate the harvest of the plant at its maturity.
For example, the device and method described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,914,900 involves placing a sheet of specially formulated material over the bare ground and inserting a specially designed plug for containing a plant through the film and into the earth below. The plug is designed to contain a planting element and growth promoting materials but does not provide room for growing medium and root growth within the plug. In addition, the plug is decomposable or biodegradable and requires an open groove extending the full length of the plug. Decomposable and biodegradable plugs may not be rigid enough to penetrate packed soils and clays and, if they degrade during the growth of the plants, they do not facilitate harvesting and removal of plants from the soil. Furthermore, the full-length groove weakens the degradable plug. Most importantly, the method is not helpful where the native soil is of poor quality and the soil is not arable or beneficial to the growth and development of desirable plants.
One device that is not designed to degrade, decompose or break apart is described in U.S. Pat. No. 1,380,253. The device is merely a dibble or rod with a recess near its pointed end and is used to monitor the germination of seeds. The device is not adapted to contain nutrients and to facilitate the eventual harvest of mature plants. Another type of device for planting seeds is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,283,445. The device described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,283,445 is a mulch blanket made of seeds incorporated in a blanket of straw bound with a water-dispersible polymer binder. The mulch blanket is laid on the bare ground and watered. The mulch blanket is also designed to decompose and does not provide for the cultivation of plants from other than seed. Nor does the device facilitate the eventual harvest of mature plants.
In addition to devices for planting seeds and seedlings, various methods for promoting growth of desired plants and improving yield have been proposed. Methods of horticulture using bags containing a growing medium are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,299,056, 5,022,182, 5,081,791 and 5,241,783. The methods described in these patents require specially designed bags or special moisture absorbing polymers as the growing medium contained within the bags. The methods are essentially self contained and do not provide a means for promoting plant growth outside of the bag. Nor do the methods provide a method of utilizing a conventional plastic bag containing growing medium.
Therefore, there is a need to provide an improved device, system and method for promoting the growth of desired plants that may be used with conventional bags of growing medium to supplement the native soil and that facilitate the eventual harvest and removal of mature plants.